The 1992 champion is set to carry out a demonstration run on Sunday, and got down to a 1m40s, six seconds off the fastest time of the practice day, as he embarked on some exploratory laps.

“It was very good of Greg to let me borrow his car before qualifying,” said Nigel Mansell. “We have a few witnesses that the car is in one piece and I didn’t stall it or spin it.

“I won my world championship with Renault power so it always good to feel their engines behind you again.

“My memories whenever I go down Hangar Straight are of the days in qualifying with 1000bhp, so you always want a bit more power. I gave myself a bit of a fright today when I went to hit the brakes for Becketts, I moved my right foot across and ended up hitting the accelerator. I managed to slow the car down in time as I wasn’t going flat-out, after that the left-foot braking took a bit of getting used to.

“I just want to say thank you to Renault for giving me the time to get used to the car before I drive it on Sunday.”

Miguel Molina took the chequered flag in 4th place on his third visit to the Principality and Greg Mansell finished five places higher than his grid slot on his first.At the start both Ultimate drivers managed to retain their start positions in opening few laps. On lap 7 Molina closed on fellow Spaniard Marcos Martinez as the Pons Racing car suffered rear brake trouble and on the following lap Molina swept into 4th place as Martinez headed for retirement and started to close the gap on 3rd placed James Walker.

Meanwhile Greg Mansell was challenging Australian A1GP driver John Martin but was unable to find a way round the Comtec Renault and had Julian Leal challenging one place behind. However with drivers falling by the wayside further up the order the trio were able to make progress up the order. On lap 10 Mansell posted the fastest lap of the race at that point, with Leal going four tenths quicker on the next lap.

Miguel Molina: “It wasn’t such a good weekend because in the first free practice we were fastest at the beginning and it was OK. In the qualifying it was the same; at the beginning it was really good but then I had a little problem with the gearbox under braking and locked the rear tyres. I was third fastest in my qualifying group, so I started the race in 5th position. I had a good start, the driver in front of memade a mistake and I was able to overtake him. We finished 4th and a good amount of points for the championship. The team worked really hard to find the problem in the gearbox overnight and I’m happy with this result.”

Greg Mansell: “That was a very hard race. We started the weekend with a poor car in practice and qualifying so we took a punt at it for the race and the team did a great job to give me a very compliant car that you need at Monaco. I think at two different times we were the fastest car out there but we had the same traffic issues as the other twenty cars. I think we’re making great progress, I think we’re looking good for the end of the season and we need to get on it now and get a good car for the start of the weekend. It’s becoming a bit of habit that we’re quick for the races but can’t get it quick enough for qualifying. I’m happy with the result, I managed to keep it out of the wall on all three days and we’ve got some great data to move forward to Hungary with a better car.”

Colin Morgan (Team Manager): “This was a hard weekend but we’ve come away from Monaco with some positives ahead of the next races in Hungary. Once again we had two of the fastest cars in the race. Miguel did a great job, it was a shame that he just missed out on a podium finish as overtaking here is so difficult. However 4th place is a good result and gives him some more useful championship points. Greg once again showed he has the race pace and did well to bring the car home five places higher than he started. We’re making good progress and we’re looking forward to Hungary. We won there last year with Fabio Carbone and Miguel was on the podium, so we’ll be looking for a good result. This will be Greg’s first time there, but that is the same for most tracks this year. If we can get qualifying sorted, his race pace is there for all to see.”

Greg Mansell also had his best finish in the championship so far; finishing 9th from 15th on the grid to claim two more championship points and also stand on the second step of the Rookie podium.

At the start Molina made up one place at the first corner to move into second and get alongside Bertrand Bagette to challenge the Belgian driver for the lead on the run down to Eau Rouge. The Spaniard tucked in behind Bagette on the long run up the hill to Les Combes with Charles Pic in third place. Greg Mansell didn’t get a good start and ended lap one in 16th place.

Miguel Molina: “I did a good start, up to P2. I was with Pic and I went off onto the grass a little bit but the car was OK. I had the oil alarm on the dashboard but it was OK and had a good fight with Move, but I was able to overtake him so it was OK. The pitstop was also OK; we finished in P3 and we took some good points for the championship. We’re now fourth in the championship and I’m looking forward to Monaco. The team did a good job and two podium finishes at Spa was really good.”

Greg Mansell: “I got a bad start, I had a problem with the clutch. It was an exciting start to the race with the safety car and the accident. I just had to bide my time to the first stop. I think we only did one flying lap after the safety car before we stopped. The team did a good job; I think we got the jump on one car in the pits and it was just a matter of getting my head down and putting some good laps in. We kind of went the wrong way on the set up a little bit compared to yesterday but it was a good solid race and we managed to keep it on the track. Once again we learnt a lot and we have just got to keep the momentum going now.”

Colin Morgan, Team Manager: “We did a lot better job; we’re back to our usual high standard and looking good for Monaco. Our race pace wasn’t as good in the second race as it was in the first race but both drivers did a sterling job to pick up their podium places. This weekend we have returned to the first division compared to where we were in Barcelona.”

Greg Mansell and Miguel Molina have had a dramatic start to the 2009 World Series by Renault Season with both Ultimate Motorsport cars amongst the fastest cars lapping the Barcelona circuit, with the Spanish driver setting the fastest lap of the race, plenty of overtaking and dramas throughout the 45 minute race.

Miguel Molina (#4 Ultimate Motorsport) set the fastest time in the SuperPole qualifying for opening meeting of the 2009 World Series by Renault. However the celebrations were cut short when the team spotted a problem when they had mistakenly fitted Molina’s car with his teammate’s tyres at the start of the session. Team Manager Colin Morgan immediately reported the mistake to the race stewards who took the decision to disallow Molina’s SuperPole times. The Spanish driver duly lined up in 12th place for the opening race of the 2009 season, three places ahead of teammate Greg Mansell (#3 Ultimate Motorsport).

A dramatic second race of the opening weekend of the 2009 World Series by Renault saw Greg Mansell score his first championship point as the rain that had threatened all morning came down at the mid point of the race to shake up the order.